Acknowledgment analysis: insight into biopharmaceutical company-funded papers and patents

Xinyuan Zhang () and Qing Xie ()
Additional contact information
Xinyuan Zhang: Soochow University
Qing Xie: Shenzhen Polytechnic University

Scientometrics, 2025, vol. 130, issue 2, No 20, 999-1044

Abstract: Abstract Acknowledged collaborations between academia and the biopharmaceutical industry are prevalent and indispensable for biomedical progress; however, discourse on using acknowledgment information to explore collaboration characteristics has been limited. This study investigates collaborations to address this knowledge gap by analyzing the acknowledgment section of research papers and the associated patents, focusing on 33 prominent biopharmaceutical companies that are members of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. This research characterizes the acknowledged collaboration on three levels. First, quantitative characteristics, including the distribution of funded papers and the average number of acknowledged companies per article, are assessed. Second, the network structure is analyzed to demonstrate increased collaboration or interconnectivity between biopharmaceutical companies and academic research institutions. Third, a topic analysis using Dirichlet multinomial regression topic modeling identifies trends in funded papers and patents, using word embedding techniques to assess topic consistency. The results indicate an annual increase in the average number of funding foundations, reflecting sustained industry enthusiasm. A temporal analysis of the acknowledged network reveals progressive growth in size and connectivity, indicating expanding and deepening collaborations. Companies maintain existing partnerships and seek new academic partners. Topic evolution trends differ between funded papers and patents, highlighting significant differences in topic consistency. This study can aid policymakers and industry leaders in refining policies to encourage biopharmaceutical research investments and provides strategic insight into competitors’ investment patterns.

Keywords: Biomedical research papers; Biopharmaceutical company patents; Academic institutions; Acknowledgment information; Topic consistency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-025-05238-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:130:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-025-05238-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05238-w

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().